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Original Message

In it’s giant Egypt’s Al-Masry Al-Youm declared the US President-In-Chief “Obama the Awaited” front page headline, drawing parallels to the Mahdi, who in Muslim estacheology is believed to appear before the end of days as a saviour, as the second coming of Christ.

Amir Taheri

Is Barack Obama the “promised warrior” coming to help the Hidden Imam of Shiite Muslims conquer the world? The question has made the rounds in Iran since last month, when a pro-government Web site published a Hadith (or tradition) from a Shiite text of the 17th century. The tradition comes from Bahar al-Anvar (meaning Oceans of Light) by Mullah Majlisi, a magnum opus in 132 volumes and the basis of modern Shiite Islam. According to the tradition, Imam Ali Ibn Abi-Talib (the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law) prophesied that at the End of Times and just before the return of the Mahdi, the Ultimate Saviour, a “tall black man will assume the reins of government in the West.” Commanding “the strongest army on earth,”